I know the Vitamix is the way to go for blenders, but it is not in my budget right now, so can anyone recommend a good blender for around $100 or less, to tide me over until that great day when I can order a Vitamix?

Whatever you do, don’t buy a KitchenAid! Although I am a fan of their other products, owning their blender drove me straight to my vitamix purchase! ... Not that that’s a bad thing, now that I look back on it! But the blender just did a horrible job at blending smoothies and what not. Soooo, that’s my 2!

Jack Lalanne sells one called the Healthmaster 100 and it looks like and works like the Vitamix Super 5000 and is $150 with free shipping online plus it also has a 100 year guarantee. I have the Vitamix 5000 and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it, however, if I didn’t have it and was looking for a blender, I’d buy his and try it out, money back guarantee…they actually compare them side by side on his infomercial. My 2nd choice would be as Zoe says, buy a used 4000 vitamix off of ebay.

sabriya,
i recently purchased an oster 1/2 horse power all metal drive professional series blender from amazon for $67 with free shipping. i have had it for 2 months now and use it almost daily. i love it! this thing will pulverize anything. it only has an on/off switch (no speeds) but that’s what i like about it. here’s a link to the one i got if you’re interested: http://www.amazon.com/Oster-BPST02-B-Profession…=sr_1_1/103-7961366-7531054?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1188231005&sr=1-1

We presently, have a professional (heavy-duty) Oster and have been using it for our
raw recipes and smoothies since April 2, 2007.
But for the last month it has started to leak liquids like crazy onto the counter.
So, we are trying to hang in there to upgrade to a Vita-Mix soon.

This is real food for thought. As a raw vegan, I do feel a lot of pressure to get the Vitamix. Everytime I use my $20 blender, I think to myself, “If this were a Vitamix, this smoothie would be so much better”. If I can find a cheap used one, then I will definitely for it, but until then, I have to look at some other options.

But I use to work in a privately owned high-class kitchen store,
when I was younger. Working there I learned the importance of quality
and taking care of the products. Now Oster was not something we sold in
the store, but I believe Oster is a very good brand. I was very excited
about our blender when we bought it. However, now that we have gone raw,
over time I do not think the Oster is built to keep up with the raw-foodist.
Yes, our washer is fine. And we are making do with the leak. But for Christmas
I think we are hoping to be able to invest in a Vita-Mix.
We really did and still do love the Oster, but are ready to move onto a Vita-Mix
when we can. (Could do without the leak, but sometimes you are just grateful for
having a blender).

The Kitchen Aid Blender is the worst thing ever! I went to my parents house and made smoothies and after blending for a long period of time there were huge chuncks in our smoothies. It just would not break the fruit down, by the way, the fruit was not frozen! I bought a Cuisinart from Costco for about $80 and it works like a charm. Although when we have the extra money, I will be getting a Vitamix!

I am so glad to see someone else has the same experience with the KitchenAid…I nearly killed my boyfriend the other day with a whole unblended brazil nut in his smoothie! I swear I had it running for about 3 minutes too. I had heard such good things about it compared to the Cuisinart and other brands, which is why I bought it :(. I am next in line for a Vitamix…I guess regular consumer products are no match for raw food!

I literally received my Oster in the mail from amazon.com yesterday. It was about $45 at amazon, but with shipping of $17, that threw it back up into the normal price range that you can get at Target. It works BRILLIANTLY but it sounds like a 747 warming up in my kitchen.
I am in greeeeeen smoothie heaven.
It’s good for now and I will work the heck out of it, but I’ve also started a $25 per paycheck Vitamix Fund :)

Cuisinart has always been my my choice in household appliances. They are made with quality materials which are made to last. They are more pricey ($130), but they do last. My mom had her blender since she was a child, and that 60 some years of use! I dont know about you but I find that very impressive. Vitamix are also some good quality blender, but they are very pricey ($300-$400! Yikes)

Lequip’ makes a great mid priced blender. I have used both a Vitamix and the Lequip’ and of course nothing is better than a Vitamix, but I have not found anything I can not do with the Lequip’. I have liquefied many different foods in it as well as blended nut cheeses and pâté. It has a great warranty, has a variable speed knob, is 900 rpm’s, and is made to last. It runs about $130 but well worth the price. Here is a link to check it out.http://www.discountjuicers.com/lequipblender.html